Pupils urged to 'call out' peers with knives

Det Ch Insp Andy Knowles led the investigation into Harvey Willgoose's murder

The detective who led the investigation into the fatal stabbing of a teenage schoolboy by a fellow pupil has urged children to "call out" their peers for carrying knives.

Harvey Willgoose, 15, died after being stabbed in the heart with a hunting knife at Sheffield's All Saints Catholic High School in February by Mohammed Umar Khan.

During his trial, jurors heard Khan, also 15, was "obsessed" with weapons and had posted pictures online of him holding knives, axes and hammers in the months before the attack.

Speaking to the BBC, Det Ch Insp Andy Knowles, said: "It felt like quite a few people in the school actually knew the defendant carried a knife on a regular basis, but it wasn't talked about."

"I understand the reasons why nobody might want to speak up and say something, but in this instance we can see the consequences are absolutely clear to everybody," he added.

"I would ask young people now, who know that somebody that they know is carrying a knife, to call them out to their face.

"If that's unsuccessful, speak to the responsible adults in charge of whatever location it is and allow something to be done to remove that danger of those split-second devastating decisions."

Khan, who was found guilty of murder, was given a life sentence on Wednesday, with the judge telling him he would serve at least 16 years before being eligible for release.

Harvey, 15, was stabbed to death during his lunch break at school

During the month-long trial at Sheffield Crown Court, jurors heard how Harvey was stabbed twice during the attack in the school's courtyard.

Witnesses described seeing Harvey stagger backwards towards the cafeteria before collapsing to the ground as his fellow pupils "fled in fear and panic".

One pupil told the jury how he and a group of other students "ran into a storage cupboard ... and and barricaded the door".

Emergency services were called to the school just after midday on 3 February

Mr Knowles said the fact the stabbing had taken place "within school premises in the middle of the school day" made the investigation "unique".

"I can't think of another instance that we've dealt with in South Yorkshire where there would have been quite so many children in one case," he said.

"You'd got about a thousand young people on site, many of whom had witnessed what occurred and were understandably traumatised."

He said during their inquiries officers had to balance the needs of the pupils with the need for gathering evidence.

He said the force had worked "closely with the school" to ensure the necessary support was in place for pupils while gathering their statements and allowed young witnesses to pre-record their evidence to avoid them having to give a live account in court.

'Devastating consequences'

Mr Knowles said his thoughts had also gone out to the defendant during the investigation, especially around the decision he made to carry a knife.

"There's an idea that you would carry a knife for your own protection or because it's a status symbol.

"But, like we've seen in this case, that decision meant absolutely devastating consequences, firstly and obviously for Harvey's family, but also in the case of the defendant.

"His split-second decision to carry a knife led to terrible consequences and now in many ways he's lost his life too.

"He's not going to experience the normal transition from being a teenager into adulthood and that has an impact on his family, who have also in a sense lost their son, because they won't have the experiences they would have expected to have had."

He said given the young age of both Harvey and his killer, it was difficult not to experience a personal response to the situation.

"I'm a parent, a lot of my team are parents," he said.

"It's easy to start seeing your own family within the circumstances and reflect on the fact that we've all got children who are in schools.

"Certainly as I saw my kids off to school the next morning, I couldn't help but pause and reflect on how normal that was.

"That moment of saying goodbye to them and thinking what it must have been like for Harvey's family to do something so ordinary, but they were denied the reunion at the end of the day that they should have had."

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